The vehicle, carrying labourers, had suffered a brake failure in Thane

An 18-year-old died and 18 were injured on Sunday when a pick-up truck overturned near Rustomjee Complex, Saket Road, Thane West. The police said the vehicle lost control after it suffered a brake failure. Alam Mohammed Shaikh, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, Mumbra, died because his head got stuck in the truck’s iron framework.

According to the Kapurbawadi police, Mafatsingh Parmar, the driver of the vehicle, used to carry contractual labourers from Mumbra, Kausa and Kalwa to different BMC sites. These 19 people were apparently working for an Andheri-based contractor called Irfan who had bagged the contract of trimming trees. On Sunday, altogether 29 labourers were being taken to Mulund’s Mura road area. Upon reaching Saket road on the Nashik-Mumbai highway, Parmar lost control of the truck. The labourers suffered injuries when their hands and heads got stuck in the truck’s iron framework.

The Thane fire-brigade and the local police, along with the residents of the area, rushed the labourers to the Thane Civil hospital where Shaikh was declared dead upon arrival.

“Alam was my only son; he had just started working and it was his second day to work,” said his father Mohammed Shaukhat Shaikh. “He did not enjoy working with me in my small stall which is at Shilphata, Mumbra as he did not like washing utensils. For his sister’s marriage he decided to work for Rs 600 per day,” said Shaukhat.

“For three months we work for the BMC on a contractual basis trimming trees and for the rest of the time most of us are working in Goa where a new drainage line is being installed,” said Milan Shaikh, another labourer who suffered head injuries and a fracture on his hand.

The daily-wage labourers are now worried as they will be out of work for a while due to the injuries and need to send money to their families in Uttar Pradesh. “We will have to take rest for some days. We live life on what we earn daily,” said Mohammed Sameer Ansari.

The police said they have registered a case against the driver under 304 A of IPC for causing death by negligence and under 279 for rash driving along with some sections of the Motor Vehicle Act.

“We are conducting inquiries and will soon make arrests,” said Anil Deshmukh, senior police inspector of Kapurbawadi police station.